Twins Before and After Awakening
by Brandon Skyblade
Summary: The episodic adventures of Avatar/Robin twins Brandon and Brianna! WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR MAIN PLOT, SECOND GENERATION UNITS AND OTHER ASSORTED AWAKENING EVENTS. Pairing not listed: [Brandon/Lissa]
1. Prologue: Reunion

**A/N: Welcome! As the description says, this will be various one-shots or small arcs, as the title says, before or after the game's main plot. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS for pretty much anything main game related and with second generation units, especially with the episodic nature of the story. If this story really kicks off there may be minor Fates content as well, but seeing as I haven't beaten either main path of Fates yet, only Awakening for now! So, enjoy! Also, if the text formatting seems a little off, it's because I'm trying to figure out Doc Manager as I'm a newbie to it.**

 **Brandon: Build 1/Face 1/Hair 1/Hair Color 9/** **  
** **Brianna: Build 1/Face 4/Hair 5/Hair Color 9/**

 **Prologue** **  
** **Reunion**

It was fitting that the last thing Brianna saw was her family. They meant the entire world to her, and all of a sudden she chose to leave their lives.

To prevent the fell dragon Grima from terrorizing the land in a millenia, their life had to be cut short by their own hand. Brianna, being one of the only two who could do it, previously stared down the scarred, tired body of her future-past self. Her husband, Chrom, was moments from putting the beast to sleep before he was stripped of his holy weapon. She had also thrown away her own weapons to summon the only one she needed...a small spear of pure crackling electricity, much like the one she barely saved Chrom from dying at the hands of...and the one her future self failed to hold back in her time. She drove it exactly where Chrom had been struck before, this time at full power.

She remembered the sight of her future self, how she had been quite literally shocked at the turn of events. As Grima's death roar rung out, his influence over the future Brianna vanished. For a moment, she smiled back at her, mouthing a very faint "Thank you" before passing on. Brianna's own body began to fade, as Naga had warned would happen should she finish Grima off herself. She told her family how much they meant to her and how much she loved them back. She saw how each of her family reacted, the images frozen in time...

Her children, Lucina and Morgan, reaching out crying for her. Her niece and nephew, Morgana and Owain, looking just as upset. The latter pair's mother, Lissa, leaning on the shoulder of her husband...Brianna's brother, Brandon. Her brother's face of shock stuck out almost as much as her own husband. He was her only living connection to their past family, and her sacrifice would mean he'd be the only one remaining of it. Chrom, however, was the complete opposite of everyone. He was smiling directly into her eyes, knowing the last of Naga's warning: If her bonds with her friends and family were enough, she may yet return. He was confident that she would, knowing how much they had practically cheated death already.

And so it was that Brianna barely felt anything but the joy of Chrom's smile. She didn't feel hunger, thirst, fatigue or anything like that, not physically anyway. Mentally, her mind desperately wanted to rest. It clung onto that feeling of hope and love for a long time and begged, no, SCREAMED to stop. But if Brianna had proven anything, giving up was a completely foreign concept to her.  
Eventually, she heard voices. She was finally given her cue to rest. The image of her family had vanished...  
...to be replaced with feeling.  
"We have to do SOMETHING!"  
That line sounded familiar...  
"What do you propose we do?"  
"I...I dunno!"  
For a moment, Brianna wasn't sure if she should be relieved to hear these voices or to be scared that everything seemed to start over. It was better to find out then lie there, so she opened her eyes. The sunlight was blinding to her, making her unable to see her saviors.  
"I see you're awake now."  
"Hey there!"  
Brianna tried to speak, but she ended up in a coughing fit, likely due to her revival not letting her recover her voice.  
"Easy there. There are better places to take a nap than the ground you know. Give me your hand."  
She reached up to the male voice, taking note that the Mark of Grima was absent from her hand.  
"Welcome back."  
All of a sudden, tears rushed to her eyes hearing that. Her hand was one thing, but hearing that...  
"It's over now."  
Even more suddenly than her tears, Brianna threw herself at the man, about to kiss the one she had recognized as the love of her life. However, there was only one problem...  
" **M-MOM, WAIT!** " That voice wasn't Chrom's after all.


	2. Chapter 1: Proper Reunion

**A/N: Welcome back! Feel free to review as well, criticism is very much appreciated to help develop my style here. That Views number alone is quite the inspiration for wanting to jump into another chapter, so let's follow up on that sudden prologue ending! Enjoy!**

 **Brandon: Build 1/Face 1/Hair 1/Hair Color 9/** **  
** **Brianna: Build 1/Face 4/Hair 5/Hair Color 9/**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Proper Reunion**

Brianna simply held her head in her hands as the three walked. "Chrom" had turned out to be Morgan, her son. He and his cousin Morgana, given their lineage from the royal siblings, staged their dialogue based on how their parents had told them about finding the tactician twins in the first place.

For a while, all she said was asking how long she had been gone for. Morgan had told her exactly a year, leaving her to replace her embarrassment with thoughts of how much the world might have changed within that time. It wasn't easy to shake that blunder of a reunion, however, since Morgana had been cackling with laughter at Morgan nearly being smooched on the lips by his own mother.

Brianna would have normally scolded her for laughing at such a thing, but she reminded herself that she didn't think before she acted in the first place.

"I'm sorry for laughing so much, Aunt Brianna, but that was probably the funniest thing I've ever seen! None of my own pranks could ever come close to that pure coincidence!" Morgana admitted, despite inheriting Lissa's talent for pranking others, along with her blonde hair. Her blue-haired cousin rolled his eyes, wanting to forget this even happened.

"Let's never speak of this again, alright?" Brianna asked of the two. Morgana likely won't keep that hidden forever, but hopefully she'd give it some time. "So, are there any plans for the…anniversary?"

"There's going to be a gathering in Southtown. That was where you had your first battle, right, Mother?" Morgan said to her.

"Well, my first battle as an unofficial Shepherd, yes." Brianna answered. "And Morgan-"

"You don't need to apologize again, I got it the first…twenty times you said it in the past five minutes." Morgan sighed as they neared the town they spoke of.

"Wait, Aunt Brianna, put your hood up! I've got an idea!" Morgana told her, running ahead.

"Did you forget how your LAST idea ended!?" Morgan shouted.

"I'll go lure Dad away, get her into the tavern without being unmasked!" Morgana shouted her instructions before disappearing into the town.

Before they could even question the purpose of it, Brianna went along with the unknown plan and put her hood up. "Morgan, pretend your search isn't over yet. I think she wants to plan a surprise."

"As long as my own family isn't trying to kiss me." Morgan shuddered.

"I can kiss you on the cheek all I want, you know." Brianna reminded.

"H-hey, I'm never embarrassed by that!"

"In public?" Brianna saw Morgan blush slightly from that. "Thought so. Now run along. Oh, but before you do that…your sister…

Morgan smiled at her. "She changed her mind. She saw how we were all willing to stay with our parents until we found a new calling in this time, so she agreed it was best for her. Oh, and if you meant the baby, she's fine! She's…called for a certain person a lot, but now we can be happy when she says it!"

Brianna's hood concealed the tears building up under them. But, they would have to wait, she had a surprise to plan.

Later into the evening was when Brianna would make her move. Brandon was "mysteriously" absent, so Brianna took the time to stroll in. Most of the original Shepherds had already joined them, from her oldest allies like Sully and Virion to the late arrivals like Say'ri and Tiki, and even all of the future children. Brandon's wife and future son, Lissa and Owain, were about to cheerily greet her when Brianna simply pressed a hand to their shoulders and walked past them, utterly confusing the two. Morgana insisted it wasn't a big deal.

For a moment, Brianna was worried she had given herself away with her hand freed from Grima's mark, but perhaps the mark had removed itself from Brandon as well. Instead of Brandon's obvious seat, she sat next to Chrom, leaving him just as perplexed.

"Brandon…?" Chrom struggled to find the words. He wasn't exactly about to criticize his brother-in-law, given what the event was about. "Brandon" had chosen to stay silent. "Very well. If that is your decision, I will respect it." He tapped his glass, gathering the attention of the room. "Before we begin, I would like to ask if our friend Brandon has anything to say. While he has not let the disappearance of his beloved sister get the best of him, he has made it clear to us today that it has always been hard to come to terms with. I still struggle with this every day, but I will not rest until she is found, even if I have to search the afterlife for her!"

The gathered crowd cheered at Chrom's confidence, turning to "Brandon" afterwards. Again, tears built up behind the hood, but they would not be hidden for long. "He" got up from his seat, holding Chrom's shoulder and turning him face-to-hidden-face.

"The floor is yours, brother." Chrom smiled. What happened next erupted the room into gasps of shock and awe. "Brandon" had brought Chrom close and kissed him directly on the lips. Most of their family (sans Morgana) looked mortified by what just happened, even Morgan despite knowing that was his mother.

It shocked the audience even further that Chrom had not broken the kiss nor tried to resist in any way. In fact, he had quickly gone from terrified to relaxed, wrapping his arms around Brianna. His push closer to her caused Brianna's hood to fall backwards, revealing the lost Queen of Ylisse to everyone. The moment the hood fell, a thunderous applause and cheer came from the Shepherds and their children.

Brandon himself finally returned moments later, looking around at the tremendous energy flowing through his friends and family. "What did I miss?" He asked, to which everyone pointed at the woman sitting at the other end of the table. He made a mad dash along the side of the room towards her, embracing her in a tight hug. "Brianna…! Brianna, tell me I'm not dreaming right now!"

Brianna responded by punching his arm. "Real enough for you?"

"Ow…y-yes!" Brandon smiled through his pain. "When did this happen!?"

"This afternoon, Dad!" Morgana piped up. "You know how every month we had some scouts go to the place you were found? Well, when WE finally went, there she was! Boy, you should've seen it, there was laughing, crying, she nearly k-

Morgan covered her mouth with his hands. "YOU SWORE YOU WOULDN'T TELL!"

Morgana's eyebrows lowered to him, indicating she made no such promise.

"You know what, that's all I need to hear." Brandon waved the two off. "Thank you two, you've made us all proud bringing her home."

Finally prying Morgan's hands away from her, Morgana replied "No problem, Dad! We just did what you would've done eventually.

"Your sister almost gave me a heart attack before. She kissed me with me still thinking she was you." Chrom informed him.

"I'd expect that behavior from my daughter, not my sister!" Brandon laughed. "Speaking of which…"

"Guilty as charged, Dad. But hey, that means one of my traps finally worked on you!" Morgana cheered.

Brandon went over to her and patted her head. "You're right. Good job, Morgana…you finally got me."

"How did you distract him, anyway?" Brianna asked the blonde.

Morgana giggled to herself. "I told him that Lissa's cap got dirty and she needed a new one."

"How in Ylisse did that even work?" Lissa asked.

Brandon at first refused to admit to his reasoning, but Lissa's staring got him to crack. "I…had…I never…even noticed you wore one. So…I didn't know…what to get you."

Lissa's jaw had dropped at the response while Morgana nearly busted out laughing. Before she ended up cursing him out for something like that, she needed an explanation. "How'd you know he never saw that?"

Morgana shrugged. "I honestly thought he wouldn't know where to get it in a common town. But THAT is even funnier! Oh Gods, he **NEVER** knew you wore that!? He's known you for, what three or four years now and not ONCE did he see it!?"

As Morgana continued her endless laughing, Brandon started backing away from the table. Lissa had slowly gotten up in the meantime.

The next morning, the talk of the town spoke of a hooded man being chased by a crazed woman waving a staff shouting all sorts of obscenities in the middle of the night. At the very least, it would make a good cover story to keep Queen Brianna's return a secret until all of Ylisse was ready to know.

 **A/N: If you thought that's some sort of creative joke about my character being occasionally dim, it's actually not. I literally never noticed Lissa wore a cap until well after I began to roleplay these characters, which was a couple YEARS after playing and beating Awakening for the first time, amazingly relating to the real-time my character would have had to fail to notice that. You could list me under the Failed a Spot Check trope and I wouldn't be mad at that fact.**


End file.
